Riku: Difference between revisions

===''[[Kingdom Hearts (game)|Kingdom Hearts]]''===

====Early Life====

[[Image:KHRikuCG.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Riku as he appears in the first ''Kingdom Hearts''.]][[File:100px-YoungRiku.jpg|thumb|left|Young Riku]]

Riku's story begins a number of years before the night of the Heartless invasion on [[Destiny Islands]]. On an earlier night, there is a meteor shower and [[Kairi|a mysterious girl]] appears on the islands. Apparently, Kairi is from another, far off world, and is now stuck on the Destiny Islands, with no way to return to her home. In an Ansem report, this world is revealed to be Radiant Garden. The two and Sora, another resident of the Isles, quickly forge a powerful friendship. Soon after Kairi's arrival, Riku and Sora go to the secret place, a small cave that they frequently explored. While there, the two spot a mysterious door, though neither one can find a way to open it. The two decide to leave, but Riku manages to get a glimpse of Destiny Islands' Keyhole. From this day on Riku became obsessed with finding out what lies beyond the door, wondering if it could perhaps be a passageway to another world, such as Kairi's.

Though Sora is significantly weakened, he makes his way to the foyer of the castle, with the help of Beast. Riku, having taken on a new appearance with the increasing strength of his dark powers, tells him to quit, but Sora refuses to leave without Kairi. Riku, intending to prove to Sora that he is the stronger of the two, attacks his old friend, only for Donald and Goofy to go to his aid after finding themselves unable to betray Sora after all that they had been through together. With the strength of his friends, Sora regains the Keyblade, becoming the true master, and drives Riku into retreat once more.

[[File:Dark_Riku.png|thumb|Riku Possessed by Xehanort's Heartless]]

===''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories]]''===

====Awakening====

[[Image:KHCoM-Riku.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Riku from ''Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories'']]

Riku awakes in the lowest basement of [[Castle Oblivion]], being led there by his heart resonating with Sora, who also happens to be in Castle Oblivion, though on the ground floor. A dark card and [[Ansem the Wise|a disembodied voice]] present themselves. The Voice offers Riku the chance to sleep and forget his troubles as well as the light, or take the card and take the first steps toward the truth. Riku takes the card confidently stating that "This looks like a boring place to take a nap anyway."

====Meeting the Replica====

[[File:Riku_Replicagood.jpg|thumb|199px|The Riku Replica]]

Riku soon realizes that he has the power to detect the "smell" of darkness, and is discouraged by it, though King Mickey comforts him. However, King Mickey can only appear to Riku as a projection, for he is still in the Realm of Darkness. Still, with King Mickey's encouragement, Riku ascends the basements of Castle Oblivion in order to rid himself of his darkness. Meanwhile, as Riku travels through the lower levels of Castle Oblivion, Sora ascends the upper floors, being manipulated by [[Marluxia]], a member of the mysterious [[Organization XIII]] and the lord of Castle Oblivion. But three other Organization members, [[Vexen]], [[Lexaeus]], and [[Zexion]] work to counter Marluxia by using the dark-wielding Riku against the light-wielding Sora.

====Way to the Dawn====

[[Image:Blindfoldriku0.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Riku with a blindfold over his eyes and wearing a [[Black Cloak]]]]

After meeting Naminé, DiZ appears again to Riku and the King (who notes that DiZ seems familiar). Knowing his choice, DiZ gives Riku a card that will draw out Xehanort's Heartless. After DiZ leaves, Riku tells King Mickey to destroy him if Riku fails to stop Xehanort's Heartless, but the King refuses, saying he'll only help him regain control, and never harm him. Riku concedes.

He is later seen conversing with Xion again at the [[Destiny Islands]], where Xion asks him about "The girl who is always with Sora", where Riku tells her that [[Kairi]] is the girl Sora really cares for. Even though Xion doesn't want to return to her true self yet, Riku tries to persuade her to do so and tells her she is the reason Sora is unable to wake up, as she contains some of his memories. He has also been shown cradling a pained Xion in his arms. The two have been shown having a discussion in Twilight Town, as well.  

[[File:Xion_riku_form_nightmare.jpg|thumb|Xion turns into young Riku during a nightmare at Destiny Islands]]

===''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]''===

====Allying with DiZ (Ansem the Wise)====

[[Image:Riku_as_Ansem.png|right|thumb|Riku in the form of Xehanort's Heartless]]

He allies himself with DiZ, as they have a common goal: to help Sora awaken (though Riku finds his memories of Sora fading, being a side-effect of Naminé's toying with Sora's memories). DiZ asks Riku to kidnap [[Roxas]], the Nobody of Sora, who has been having trouble regaining his memories. If he and Roxas join, Sora should be able to reawaken. Riku enters the Realm of Darkness, and corners Roxas in [[the World That Never Was]]. In their battle, they seem to stalemate, although Roxas manages to strike him back, seemingly crippling Riku's left hand. Riku then realizes if he is to win in the Realm of Darkness, he must submerse himself in the same darkness. As a result, Riku unleashed his darkness, taking on the form of [[Xehanort's Heartless]] as a side effect. Riku easily defeated Roxas, and returns him to DiZ's base underneath the abandoned mansion in [[Twilight Town]], introducing himself as "Ansem".  

====Rogue Actions====

[[Image:KH2 Riku+Keyblade.jpg|200px|left|thumb|left|Riku with "Way to the Dawn" in ''Kingdom Hearts II'']]

Riku, after Roxas joins with Sora, comes into contact with [[Mickey Mouse|King Mickey]]. Riku begs King Mickey not to reveal his whereabouts and condition to Sora, and the King reluctantly agrees. He then leaves the King the digital versions of Olette's munny pouch and Roxas' crystal orb that he had pilfered from Roxas earlier.

====Home At Last====

[[Image:Riku King Ending.jpg|thumb|Riku and King Mickey at [[Destiny Islands]]]]

Having the time to finally talk, the two reconcile with each other. Riku then comes across a letter in a bottle, written by Kairi, and gives it to Sora, believing him to be the proper recipient. Sora then manages to open the Door to Light, as King Mickey predicted, and the two return home, reuniting with their friends. While Sora shares a hug with Donald and Goofy, Riku shares his own moment with King Mickey. Ironically, even though Riku was once jealous of Sora's friendship with Donald and Goofy, he ended up having a similar one with Mickey.

Another good personality trait he showed was a strong protectiveness over his friends. He never wanted Sora and Kairi to find out about the time he spent in the darkness. He nearly sacrificed himself to protect Sora from Xemnas' attacks, leaving him injured after the final battle.

==Appearance==

==Roles, Battle Techniques and Weaponry==

Riku's roles in the various games have varied greatly - during his time through ''Kingdom Hearts'', ''Chain of Memories'', ''Kingdom Hearts II'' and ''358/2 Days'', he has been an optional miniboss, a support character, a boss again, a boss a third time, a playable character, a boss a fourth time, a party member, a temporary playable character, a chase event, a boss a fifth time(First time as final boss) and a fully playable multi-player character.

   

After Sora left [[Neverland]], Riku returned to Maleficent who gave him a large increase in his dark abilities. This allowed him to draw on dark energies to increase his physical power and cloth himself in an organic-looking suit of darkness. While in the dark form he could zip around the battle field at an incredible speed and each blow from his Soul Eater dealt large damage. However, this form was taxing on his heart as seen after his battle with Sora in Hollow Bastion.

   

When he is playable in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories]]'', he is given a preset deck in each world that cannot be changed and changes automatically during gameplay. By breaking his opponent's cards, Riku acquires "DP", which let him transform into his Dark Form. Dark Form, along with giving him decreased speed and increased strength, gives him access to [[sleights]] that mimic his special attacks from ''Kingdom Hearts''. Outside of Dark Form, any combination of stocked cards counts as a sleight and costs Riku a card, so he cannot perform combo attacks as easily as Sora can. Instead, he has access to a unique system of battle called "card dueling", which allows Riku to stun opponents and perform special commands by breaking their cards multiple times. Overall, in contrast to Sora who must rely on sleights and combos to fight, Riku's playing style is more up-front, relying on card duels and breaks to acquire DP and enter Dark Form.

   

===''Kingdom Hearts''===

In ''Kingdom Hearts'', Maleficent gives Riku the power to control the Heartless for a short time. Later, Maleficent unlocks his dark powers which he has used throughout the series. Xehanort's Heartless, who was believed to be Ansem at the time, possessed Riku and gave him all of his power. In ''Chain of Memories'', Riku was able to escape the Realm of Darkness through the subconscious use of his dark powers. Riku also gained full control over his dark powers and finally defeated Xehanort's Heartless.

{{Main|Riku (Boss)}}

|Win a duel that requires you to break seven cards.

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===''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days''===

* [[Soul Eater]]

* [[Way to Dawn]]

{{Form}}

{{Party}}

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[[de: Riku]]